New homeowner, just sorta winging it...
New homeowner, just sorta winging it...
Having never owned a house or really had a yard of my own, I got pretty excited and decided to do some ad-hoc landscaping. Built some raised beds for vegetables, and just laying in some organic shaped in-ground beds for low water decorative plants. Gonna fill the rest in with gravel. Any pointers?
Not sure on your location as from the picture it doesn't look like you're in the USA. However some places have restrictions on gathering water from your roof due to the materials used to clad the roof being poisonous. I would just double check that as I wouldn't want to consume any fruits or vegetables that have been grown in water that wasn't safe. I would also use a water butt or gatherer rather (totally covered from sun light) than hosing directly into a plant bed as if it's raining. The plants will already be getting watered from the rainwater so you want to store the rainwater for use later.
store the rainwater for use later.
And then there are even further rules on storing water in some places - in Colorado I'm only allowed ~100 gallons of rainwater collection storage because someone else owns the water rights to the land my house is on.
I'm actually in Colorado as well, so also limited to (I believe) two barrels totaling not more than 110 gallons.
I'm really hating the people of authority on this planet right now. All of 'em. Corporate and government.
Rain water? JFC
Please, I beg of you, don't fill in with gravel. It sucks to remove, and it sucks to install, too.
Instead, space out large flat stones and fill the gaps in between with something low-growing like thyme.Also, be sure not to girdle your trees.
That middle bed that's already done looks great!
Personally, I would put down some lawn - yeah it's more maintenance than gravel but it's much easier on the feet and simply looks more vibrant and alive.
And I can only recommend doing something about that brick wall, I wouldn't want to stare at a wall the whole time when relaxing in my garden. If you search for "living wall", you'll find plenty of suggestions.
Confirmations on your new home!
I live in a dry climate with water restrictions most of the warm months, so a traditional lawn is not a great option. Will probably end up going with pea gravel or breeze, I don't mind it barefoot.
Love the idea of the living wall!
Yeah, that possibility had occurred to me right after posting, too. There are drought resistant grasses, but if there are already restrictions in place, it might make sense to plan ahead and simply patch the gravel with some low water plants.
IMHO, adding a few plants to the gravel really breaks up that otherwise somewhat sterile look. I'm a big fan of Japanese dry gardens which use a lot of gravel and rock, but those are meticulously planned and become sculptures more so than gardens. In residential garden planning, people often create a barren landscape by simply piling up gravel in a large area.
If you like succulents/cactii, those are always an option, but there are plenty of other plants, too. I tried to look for some examples and I think this page has a bunch of useful images on a single page:
https://www.homedesigninspired.com/32-stunning-low-water-landscaping-ideas-for-your-garden/
On related "trick": there are apps that recognize plants from a picture on your phone. I originally got one to use during hikes, but turns out they can also help when planning a garden. If you see something you like online but no mention of what it is, simply save the image, crop and run through the app. I use http://plantnet.org ,which can also be used right from the browser.
Another option to consider is a native plant growncover! It'll be low maintenance and won't require mowing.
Some of the no-mow native ground covers, like frogfruit if you're in the southern US, actually get quite tall. We had a very wet spring and my frogfruit lawn got over twelve inches tall before I gave in and mowed it on the highest setting on my mower. I do have the same plant as filler in several beds, though, where it can get as tall as it wants.
The frogfruit would have eventually laid down a bit shorter once the extra moisture dried up, but it was getting to be quite the eye sore.
I wouldn't direct water from the roof into your garden if it's a food garden - flower beds it's fine. You're going to get a bunch of flecks of shingle in runoff water ---> plastics and hydrocarbons ----> contamination of your food. The only time I would collect like this would be from a metal roof.
Make a small area, fence it off if you must, where you just let stuff grow wild and do zero maintenance (except maybe removing nasty invasives). The local wildlife will thank you even if it's just a couple feet. I did that and I get a ton of bees and butterflies.
I plan on doing this with the small front yard. Probably not fence it in, but cast some native grass and flower seeds then call it a day. Hope the neighbors don't mind!
Wood right next to the house is a big no no. Termites are an issue you want to avoid as much as possible.
Route the downspout away from the house, it looks like it's aimed at your foundation and downgrade so water will want to come back towards the house.
Wood right next to the house is a big no no.
The whole house is wood!
Yes, you can't help that. You can help but spacing any extraneous word at least 3ft from the house is the general rule of thumb.
It is a slab-on-grade garage, and yes I plan on adding a rainwater catchment ASAP. The downspout has been exactly in this position for 12 years when the previous owners built the garage, and has caused no issues -- at least none that came up in inspection. There's very good drainage down to the road behind, I think.
I mean the flex tube pointing into your raised bed, it should point away and closer to the middle where the should be a shallow valley graded away from both. It probably wouldn't come up on inspection, a. Most home inspections aren't that great, b. You'd really need a significant amount of water to be around to judge it proper. Other than that I can't see any real problems with the beds being there or their design or anything.
Termites aren’t an issue everywhere though.
The downspout should be discharged atleast 3 if not 5 feet from the house though. BUT that looks like garage? So slab on grade and not as much as a concern, but still not ideal.
In Colorado they are. And that appears to be their location.
A slab will float almost as well as a bathtub.
Not a homeowner myself yet, but one nice thing could be to out down gravel that's walkable barefoot. Idk about the rest of peeps, but I used to live in a house that had quite sharp gravel and it was almost obligatory to walk with shoes. If I were you I'd go with some light coloured shingle that's nice for barefoots. Just my first thought :)
Please do keep us posted with updates of how this turns out!
Totally! You can see where I was testing out some pea gravel to possibly fill all the pathways. But shingle could be nice too
Looks great! You could add a rain barrel to easily water your plants for free. Just avoid watering vegetables with runoff from your roof.
Good advice. Will a barrel help to settle out the micro plastics and bad stuff?
Sorry, I don't understand your question.
Since you're in Colorado, check out Plant Select
can you post another photo that includes an indicator for south?
South is toward the brick wall
You're gonna flood that garden after a hard rain. If you want to pump water in like that you need a hanging garden setup. My suggestion is buy a water pump for your basement.
Looks good and congrats!
I love how you made the raised beds. Where do you get poles like that? I’ve been unable to find them